Christa Steele
Experienced CEO, Public and
Private Company Board Director
About
Highlights
- Mother of two young adults, avid golfer, who loves traveling and spending time with family and good friends;
- Strong success as both a Director CEO, C-Suite leader, with a highly regarded public profile;
- Two successful business exits commanding premiums to market as a CEO and as Partner and Board Director;
- Four years of direct involvement in Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technology integration initiatives;
- Business transformation with direct P&L oversight;
- Deep knowledge of financial services and emerging technologies;
- Demonstrated ability to work across a broad range of industries.
Boardroom Expertise
- Unusually wide range of experience across industries, governance structures, sizes/stages of development, problem/opportunity sets, and roles;
- Industries served: Financial services, insurance, wealth management, investment banking, neural technology, artificial intelligence, transportation, equipment leasing, waste collection, real estate, security, food and agricultural;
- Public, private, family-owned, and ESOP companies;
- Companies of different sizes and stages of development - 8 board roles (including ASX and NYSE) from startup, scalable, to mature companies;
- Different problem/opportunity sets (including but not limited to)- Led DOJ Investigation, Special Committee and M&A boardroom oversight and extensive experience with Restructuring, Divesting, Scaling, CEO and C-Suite Succession, Business Disintermediation, New Market Entrant Disruptors, and Digital Transformation;
- Different roles - Chairman of Board and serving on all Board committees, including Chair of Audit and Compensation committees;
- Qualified as financial expert and known Governance expert.
Corporate Leadership
- Two decades (1995-2015) in senior level positions within the financial services industry where she led the execution of strategic initiatives, streamlined operations, implemented technology, led digital transformation, underwrote, structured, managed retail and commercial credit functions, grew new markets and oversaw M&A activity;
- President & CEO, Mechanics Bank, $500 million in market capitalization specialized in retail, commercial and wealth management products and services. As CEO, Steele led the improvement of core earnings 43% in a single calendar year, doubled the value in less than two years, and successfully led its sale for a premium in 2015;
- Partner and board member of FIG Partners, a full-service boutique investment bank (capital markets, IPO's, M&A, Fixed Income and High Net Worth asset management) with ten locations throughout the U.S., until its sale in April 2019 to Janney Montgomery Scott;
- Nationally recognized speaker, thought leader, guest lecturer - Blockchain, Big Data, and Corporate Governance.
Education
- MBA from University of Southern CA (USC);
- BA from California State University Sacramento (CSUS);
- Board qualified financial expert;
- Stanford Law School, Stanford Directors' College;
- NACD Board Leadership Fellow.
Data aggregation, data access and data privacy...hot topics
"Data is being aggregated at a speed it has never been aggregated before," Steele says. "We need to start thinking, 'How do we need to use data?"
Events
Virtual
Building the internet
Building the internet
Blockchain and Digital Currencies
NACD
New York, NY
Building the internet
Building the internet
Building the internet
The future of the internet fueled by blockchain technology
CES
Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas, NV
Demystifying AI
Building the internet
Board of the Future
Bridge the gap between the promise of Artificial Intelligence and utilization at your company.
NACD & Armanino LLP
Nasdaq Center
San Francisco, CA
Board of the Future
Board Oversight Under the Microscope
Board of the Future
Challenges faced by corporate directors in the new digital age and the changing trends of boardroom dynamics.
Corporate Directors Forum
Omni Hotel
San Diego, CA
Board Oversight Under the Microscope
Board Oversight Under the Microscope
Board Oversight Under the Microscope
Board oversight shifts and what directors should be thinking about as board responsibilities expand
Financial Times
Agenda Education
Webcast
The Audit Committee & Risk Oversight
Board Oversight Under the Microscope
Board Oversight Under the Microscope
Discussing the misalignments of perceived risks between the C-Suite, CAE, CEO and the Boardroom
NACD Texas TriCities
Jr. League of Houston
Houston, TX
Wall Street Journal Pro's AI Executive Forum 2020
Wall Street Journal Pro's AI Executive Forum 2020
Wall Street Journal Pro's AI Executive Forum 2020
Developing the Right Artificial Intelligence Governance
Wall Street Journal
Conrad Hotel
New York, NY
Virtual
Wall Street Journal Pro's AI Executive Forum 2020
Wall Street Journal Pro's AI Executive Forum 2020
The Future of Boardrooms
INSEAD & Odgers Berndtson
San Francisco, CA
Virtual
Wall Street Journal Pro's AI Executive Forum 2020
Virtual
Guest Lecturer
UC Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Virtual
Virtual
Virtual
Leveraging the use of data during COVID
Diligent
New York, NY
Virtual
Virtual
Virtual
The Future of Real Estate - Post COVID
NACD Northern California
San Francisco, CA
Virtual
Virtual
Virtual
ESG from the lens of Institutional Investors and Shareholder Activism
NACD Northern California
San Francisco, CA
NACD Magazine April 2020 Edition
"For a long time, it's always been, 'Be a fast follower' for the smaller institutions....This is not a time to be a fast follower. You'll get left behind." - Christa Steele